Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1124104
8 6 P E R S P E C T I V E | J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 1 9 to make it camera-friendly. Vic's upstairs room was reached by a staircase; but was a separate set. I chose an older wallpaper than the period to give it a timeless feeling. As with most of the sets, I wanted it to feel frozen in time and style. The Graveyard of What Might Be was the first major fantasy set, and was combined with children floating in water tanks so they would appear as floating under ice. I drew a sketch and then painted a watercolor to give a mood and sense of what could be produced. The gravestones were extremely specific and each had its own poem. I designed one with a carved Victorian crossed wood branches framing the poem painted by one of the master sign painter scenics. Twenty hero and sixty background gravestones were made out of fiberglass, which would be made to look like thousands on an enormous lake on the edge of a forest. The biggest challenge was Christmasland, and it took two tries. Everyone had a different idea of what it would be. The gates are seen first in an early episode. As discussed with the show creator Jami O'Brien, it was conceived as a fantasia in the mind of Charlie Manx. Part amusement park, ghoulish carnival, an overbaked burned gingerbread village. I wanted the whole thing encrusted with glitter as though it had frozen and crystalized. Charlie Manx's mind is filled with Christmases past, and real and imagined things. My initial approach to the entrance was very tame; but as I began to explore the possibilities, it changed from conventional estate gates to a dilapidated A B C A. THE GRAVEYARD OF WHAT MIGHT BE. PRELIMINARY SKETCH. B. THE GRAVEYARD OF WHAT MIGHT BE FINAL SKETCH. GOUACHE AND INK. C. THE GRAVEYARD OF WHAT MIGHT BE. PRODUCTION STILL. D. GRAVESTONE SKETCH. E. CHRISTMASLAND GATES INITIAL CONCEPT. F. CHRISTMASLAND GATES FINAL CONCEPT SKETCH USING INSPIRATION FROM ILLUSTRATOR JOEY STUDZINSKI. ARTWORK BY ANDREW JACKNESS. D